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Ed Olczyk
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois | draft = 3rd overall | draft_year = 1984 | draft_team = Chicago Blackhawks | career_start = 1984 | career_end = 2000 }} Eddie Olczyk (born August 16, 1966) is a former professional hockey player and head coach. He currently serves as a television color commentator for [[NHL on NBC|'NHL on NBC']]. He was a center in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 16 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Pittsburgh Penguins. Eddie played 1,031 NHL games and produced 342 goals and 452 assists for a total of 794 points between 1984 and 2000. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame on February 22, 2013. Olczyk was tied with Phil Kessel for the second longest point streak by an American born player in NHL history, at 18 games. He achieved this in 1989-90, while with Toronto. That record was broken by Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2015–16 season. Playing Career Amateur Playing Career Ed grew up in Palos Heights, Illinois and went to Brother Rice Catholic High School. He was a star on the Illinois midget AAA team (Team Illinois) that won the 1982 national title against a Detroit Compuware squad that featured future NHL stars Pat LaFontaine and Al Iafrate. He then moved to Canada to play for the Stratford Cullitons junior team before joining the 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Professional Playing Career Ed was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft as the third overall pick. He scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game on October 11, 1984 vs the Detroit Red Wings in Chicago Stadium against Greg Stefan. From 1984 thru 1987, Ed (#16) was a member of Chicago's infamous "Clydesdale Line" with Troy Murray (#19) and Curt Fraser (#8), the nickname coined by Blackhawks broadcaster Pat Foley as each player weighed in at or around 200 pounds. Ed was traded a number of times during his career. In 1987, Ed was traded to Toronto with Al Secord for Rick Vaive, Steve Thomas and Bob McGill. In 1990, he was traded again in 1990 to Winnipeg along with Mark Osborne for Dave Ellett and Paul Fenton. In 1992, he was traded for the third time in his career, this time to the New York Rangers for Kris King and Tie Domi. Ed missed most of the 1993–94 season recovering from a thumb injury suffered in a game vs. the Florida Panthers on January 3, 1994. However, he recovered and took part in one playoff game (conference final game 6). On June 14, 1994, he became a Stanley Cup champion with the Rangers that season. During the next season, he was traded back to Winnipeg for their 5th round choice (who ended up being Alexei Vasiliev) in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. After signing as a free agent with Los Angeles in 1996, Ed wouldn't even finish the season with them before being traded to Pittsburgh for Glen Murray. He finished his career in Chicago. Post-Playing Career He was the color commentator for NHL on ABC with Mike Emrick from 2001-2003. In 2003, he moved from the booth to the bench and served as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins from June 11, 2003 until December 15, 2005. Despite adding marquee free-agents, the Penguins started the season with a disappointing 8–17–6 record, leading to Olczyk's dismissal on December 15. Beginning with the 2006-07 NHL season, Eddie was the the lead color commentator for NHL on NBC and previously for the NHL on Versus (the latter later re-branded as NBCSN in 2012) alongside Mike Emrick. He was also the lead game analyst for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Men's Ice Hockey where he partners with Mike Emrick. Perhaps Ed's most notable moment as color commentator came at the end of the 5–3 U.S. win over Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, when he described the game as being "tremendously tremendous" after U.S. forward Ryan Kesler scored an empty-netter. The audio of Ed saying, "This has been tremendously tremendous" was an instant hit among hockey enthusiasts and was the subject of many spoofs online. He was selected to repeat his duties alongside Emrick for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. On April 8, 2010, he returned to Pittsburgh to join more than 50 former Penguins being honored in a pre-game ceremony before the final regular season game at Mellon Arena. On October 15, 2012, he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame along with Mike Modano and Lou Lamoriello. In 2004, Ed was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame. On May 5, 2014, EA Sports announced that Olczyk will provide color commentary for NHL 15 alongside play-by-play commentator Mike "Doc" Emrick and ice level analyst Ray Ferraro. Career Statistics Awards & Achievements *1994 Stanley Cup Champion (New York Rangers) *US Hockey Hall of Fame (2012) International Record for Team USA *1984 Winter Olympics (seventh place) *1984 Canada Cup (fourth place) *1987 Canada Cup (fifth place) *1991 Canada Cup (second place) *Ice Hockey World Championships: 1985 (fourth place), 1986 (sixth place), 1987 (seventh place), 1989 (sixth place), 1993 (sixth place) Personal Life Ed has four children (three currently playing hockey): Eddie Jr. plays for the Bloomington Thunder of the Southern Professional Hockey League, Nick plays for the Chicago Steel of the USHL, Tom, who plays for the Penn State Nittany Lions and a daughter Zandra, who attends the University of Alabama. His younger brother Rick Olczyk is a former hockey player for Brown University and is currently an assistant general manager for the Carolina Hurricanes Category:1966 births Category:Chicago Blackhawks players Category:Toronto Maple Leafs players Category:Winnipeg Jets (1979–96) players Category:New York Rangers players Category:Los Angeles Kings players Category:Pittsburgh Penguins players Category:American ice hockey coaches Category:Stanley Cup champions Category:NHL coaches Category:NHL broadcasters